LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



Shelf __C.^" 3 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



/ 



INCIDENTS IN THE LIFE 



OP 



ALBERT COLBY, 

— • - w 

THE MAN WHO PROVES 



THAT MODERN SPIRITUALISM IS A DELUSION IDENTICAL 

WITH BIBLE WITCHCRAFT, AND THAT IT 

IS THE WORK OF DEVES. 



I AM NO SECTARIAN, BUT I HOPE ALWAYS TO 

STAND UP FOR JESUS AND THE BIBLE, 

"FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH." 



■ 




PORTLAND, ME. : 
PRINTED BY ALBERT COLBY'S SONS, 

No. 119 Exchange Street. 
1875. 



Price Ten Cents. 



*€* 



INTRODUCTION. ■ 



"Modern Spiritualism" is a delusion and a 
fraud, a devil's trap to catch fools. As the evils of 
intemperance can only be thoroughly portrayed by 
reformed drunkards, like John B. Gough, and others 
of similar experience, so Modern Spiritualism needs 
reformed or converted Spiritualists to oppose it suc- 
cessfully. On the 23d day of April, 1865, I was a 
companion of the notorious Charles H. Foster, the 
so-called "test-medium," when that "light from 
Heaven," which saved Saul of Tarsus, appeared to 
me also ; but it took me till 1869 to get through the 
wilderness and to see that witchcraft or w Spiritism " is 
a heinous crime against God. Since then I have fre- 
quently lectured against the evil, and as my lectures 
spoil the business of the mediums, they, who, like 
"the Cretans, are always liars," have circulated most 
ridiculous falsehoods about myself and family. For 
these reasons I have written the following Incidents 
in my Life, and I trust no candid person will accuse 
me of egotism for so doing. Nearly all the mediums 
publish histories of their lives. The better class, like 
A. J. Davis and D. D. Home, write their own 
histories; but William Denton, the blasphemer, is 
by J. H. Powell ; and the President of the National 
Association of Spiritualists, that champion of free 
love, with " two husbands in one house," Victoria 
Woodhull, used Theodore Tilton's "paws to rake her 
chestnuts out of the fire." 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1875, by Albert Colby, 
in the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington, 



r 



INCIDENTS IN MY LIFE. 



CHAPTER I. 
MY BIRTHPLACE AND PARENTAGE. 

" Breathes there the man, with soul so dead, 
Who never to himself hath said, 

This is my own, my native land ? 
Whose heart hath ne'er within him hurned, 
As home Ins footsteps he hath turned 
From wandering on a foreign strand ! " 

I was born in Fryeburg, Oxford County, Maine, 
Friday morning, January 12, 1827. My birth- 
place was only a few rods from the New Hampshire 
state line, and a part of my father's land was in 
New Hampshire, and for months together, of my 
early life, I have spent my days in New Hampshire, 
and my nights in Maine. God made the two states 
one ; and the artificial line made by man, which 
divides Conway, N. H., from Fryeburg, Me., was 
once supposed to be several miles west of its present 
location ; and many of the leading citizens of Frye- 
burg's early history really lived in Conway, N. H. 
Portland, Maine, is the natural seaport of the larger 

3 



4 INCIDENTS IN MY LIFE. 

part of the State of New Hampshire, and if the 
long-hoped-for millennium ever comes, artificial 
boundaries, human laws, and all taxes will be 
abolished, and God's will then shall be done on 
earth t? as it is in heaven ; " for if all men were true 
Christians, no human laws or taxes would be needed, 
but voluntary contributions would supply all the 
wants of society. The White Mountains are said 
to be in New Hampshire, and their highest summits 
are in that state, but their base extends far into the 
State of Maine, and the Rivers Saco and Androscog- 
gin carry the larger part of the waters that fall on 
those mountains through the State of Maine, into 
the ocean. Fryeburg and Conway, and the adjacent 
towns south of the White Mountains, were originally 
known by the Indian name of Pequawket, and 
owned and occupied by a powerful tribe of the same 
name, of which Paugus was the last noted chief, 
who died fighting for his birthright in the famous 
battle called Lovewell's Fight, A. D. 1725. No 
place on earth excels in beauty the land of the 
Pequawkets — the home of my Scotch ancestors 
— the place of my birth. 

My father, James Colby, and my mother, Mary 
Stirling, were married in Conway, N. H., by Rev. 
Nathaniel Porter, D. D., October 2, 1823. I was 
the second of five children, all now living. My 
earliest remembrance is of Revolutionary Heroes. 
Our home was surrounded by soldiers of the Ameri- 
can Revolution. Our nearest neighbor was Captain 
Nathaniel Hutchins, a captain in the war for the In- 



MY BIRTHPLACE AND PARENTAGE. 5 

dependence of our country, and a lieutenant in the 
previous French war ; and when the war of 1812 
broke out, he had a major's commission sent him, but 
being bowed with the infirmities of old age, and unable 
again to participate in the * sweet madness of battle," 
he sat down and wept with an exceeding bitter cry, 
like Esau weeping for his lost blessing. His grand- 
daughter Matilda, who most frequently cared for 
the wants of his declining years, was a noble 
maiden when I was a child, and she was one of my 
especial patron saints. I remember her and my 
father's two younger sisters, Betsy and Hannah, as 
three angels, always doing good ; and I never heard 
any one of them speak a word upon any subject that 
I would have changed, and I loved them better than 
any other persons then living, except my mother ; 
but I remember, when a child, during a severe sick- 
ness of my mother, of praying God honestly and 
earnestly to spare her life and take mine. 

Matilda Hutchins gave me the first presents I ever 
remember receiving, and she taught me to speak 
pieces and to "hurrah for Jackson." She and my 
mother were always most intimate friends, and I 
used to call her "Aunt Tilda." I was taught to 
call all Eevolutionary soldiers Vt Grandsire ; " and 
Grandsire Pettee, Grandsire Cross, Knight, Walker, 
Heath, &c, are still fresh in my memory. My 
ancestors were mostly Scotch, and I can trace them 
back to Scotland, and find their former homes and 
similar names there still. Matilda Hutchins used 
to tell me stories of William Wallace, and King 



6 INCIDENTS IN MY LIFE. 

Robert Bruce, and she used to teach me to hate the 
English ; but I have since learned to love at least 
many of them. God is love, and his Christ has 
taught us to love even our enemies. Whoever 
loves Jesus is my brother, be he English, Scotch, or 
Irish; and our Savior says, "If ye love me, 
keep my commandments ; " and whosoever tries to 
follow my Savior, satisfies me, be he of the English, 
Latin, or Greek church, or of any of the minor 
classes of the Dissenters. These side issues I care 
nothing for. Faith in Jesus and a pure life insure 
salvation. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and 
thou shalt be saved, and thy house," says Paul ; and 
whoever believes on Jesus accepts His promises; 
better than government bonds, better than silver 
and gold ; and Jesus promises that the pure in 
heart shall see God. True faith and a pure life are 
one; for Scripture says, "Faith without works is 
dead." 

Peter says, "In every nation, he that feareth God 
and worketh righteousness is accepted of Him." 

Jesus says, " Many shall come from the east and 
the west and sit down in the kingdom." 

No one is to be blamed or praised for his birth- 
place, his parentage, or his inherited religious creed. 
These blessings are to be prized, but not to be 
boasted of, for God is no respecter of persons. 
We must answer for all our gifts. "To whom 
much is given, of him much will be required;" 
"but he that knoweth not his Master's will, and 
doeth it not, shall be beaten with few stripes." 



MY BIRTHPLACE AND PARENTAGE. 7 

James Colby, my father, was the son of Robert 
Colby and Hannah Kelley. Eobert Colby was the 
son of Jacob Colby and Anney Miller, his wife. 
They came from Scotland ; but as I cannot find the 
name of Colby in Scotland or Ireland, I conclude 
the Colby s, who settled with the Scotch-Irish, in 
New Hampshire and Western Maine, were of 
English origin, as that name is frequently found in 
England. My grandmother, Hannah Kelley, wife 
of my grandfather Colby, was daughter of Joshua 
Kelley — a Scotchman, but a soldier of the American 
Revolution, who passed away before my memory — 
and Deborah Page, his wife. My mother, whose 
maiden name was Mary Stirling, was daughter of 
John Stark Stirling and Ruth Kimball. My grand- 
father Stirling was son of Hugh Stirling, from 
Glasgow, Scotland, and Isabel Stark, his wife, 
daughter of Archibald Stark, of Derryfield, N. H., 
where the city of Manchester now stands. Some 
account of Archibald Stark and his family may be 
found in the History of Manchester, in the History 
of Dunbarton, and many other New Hampshire 
histories. Much valuable history and biography in 
all Christian countries is found preserved in the 
registers of old Family Bibles, and the proper 
ownership of millions of dollars and pounds sterling 
has been decided from family records found in old 
Bibles. Every person should own a Bible with a 
family history recorded within. A member of the 
Stark family has recently shown me an old Bible 
with the following record : — 



INCIDENTS IN MY LIFE. 



Anney Stark, born . . 


. . 1722-75 


William Stark, born 


. . 1724-73 


Isabel Stark,. born . 


. . 1726-71 


John Stark, born 


. . 1728-69 


Archibald Stark, born . 


. . 1730-67 


Jean Stark, born 


. . 1734-63 


Samuel Stark, born 


. . 1736-61 



These were children of Archibald Stark, a liber- 
ally educated gentleman from Glasgow, Scotland, 
and Eleanor, his wife, whose earthly remains now 
lie buried in Manchester, N. H. This record was 
evidently written in 1797, and the figures at the 
right show the ages of the family when the record 
was made, for, add any one of these ages to the 
year of birth, and we have the date 1797. 

Samuel Stark and Isabel, with her husband Hugh 
Stirling, settled in Conway, N. H., adjoining Frye- 
burg, Maine, where I was born. My mother's 
father was son of Isabel, and namesake of her 
brother, Major-General John Stark, who command- 
ed the forces that captured the British army at 
Bennington, Vt. Often do I remember of Revolu- 
tionary soldiers calling at our house, who, before 
leaving us, would say to myself and older brother 
Richard, "My boys, you've got good blood in ye; 
get some larnin' — 'twill help ye." 

My grandmother Stirling's maiden name was 
Ruth Kimball, daughter of Richard Kimball, and 
Anney, his wife, early settlers of Conway, N. H. 
They went from Andover, Mass. ; and the maiden 



MY BIRTHPLACE AND PARENTAGE. 9 

name of Richard Kimball's wife was Robertson, 
and that of his mother was Peabody. He was an 
elegant penman, and, for reasons before mentioned, 
was the first town clerk of Fryeburg, Maine, though 
he lived in Conway, N. H., and afterwards kept the 
books of Conway for many years. 

We all have two parents, four grandparents, and 
they increase as we go back in geometrical propor- 
tion; and our children have only half our own 
blood, our grandchildren one fourth ; and one hun- 
dred years from to-day, the people of our earth will 
have only one eighth, or perhaps one sixteenth of 
the blood of the property holders of to-day, and one 
thousand years hence, what an infinitesimal fraction 
of the blood of any person living to-day will be in 
the veins of any person that may be living then ! 
Truly, God is our Father, and all men are brethren. 

I have been thus particular in giving the names 
of my ancestors because my parents, grandparents, 
and other relations have witnessed as wonderful 
phenomena as any of the mediums of to-day can 
show, from D. D. Home, to C. H. Foster, 
which facts I use in my debates with those Bible- 
hating, God-denying, Heaven-defying, anti-Christ 
people called ^ Modern Spiritualists." My parents 
w r ere Congregationalists, and I was baptized in 
infancy by their clergyman. My grandparents all 
died members of the Methodist church, having 
been fascinated by the free-will teachings of John 
Wesley, and they were all God-fearing, Bible-loving 
people. 



10 INCIDENTS IN MY LIFE. 



CHAPTER II. 

MY BUSINESS OPERATIONS. 

" Who's born for sloth? To some we find 
The ploughshare's annual toil assigned ; 
Some at the sounding anvil glow ; 
Some the swift-sliding shuttle throw; 
Some, studious of the wind and tide, 
From pole to pole our commerce guide : 
In every rank, or great or small, 
'Tis industry supports us all." 

My father was a farmer, the most honest and 
honorable occupation on earth. I learned my 
father's trade, and worked at it every summer till 
I was twenty-one years old. 

To cultivate the soil is the natural occupation of 
the human race. Even before the fall of man, we 
read in the first chapter of the Bible that God com- 
manded our first parents to ?? replenish " the earth 
and w subdue " it : that is to say, he commanded 
them to go to farming. 

No person can be independent or happy without 
some useful employment. Idle, lazy people never 
yet were happy, and never will be. Pleasant labor 
is not only necessary for man's health, prosperity, 
and happiness while on earth, but Scripture teaches 



MY BUSINESS OPERATIONS. 11 

that we shall continue to perform uses beyond the 
grave. The Lord of Glory while on earth lived a 
continual life of labor; and he says (John v. 17), 
" My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." That 
the angels of heaven are not idle, Paul shows in 
Hebrews i. 14: "Are they not all ministering 
spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall 
be heirs of salvation ? " Philosophers and states- 
men have lauded, and poets have sung, the praises 
of Labor, in all ages and countries. 

My duties upon a farm did not prevent me from 
attending school winters, generally, about three 
months each year ; but farmers' boys do not attend 
summer school after they are big enough to work. 
Yet w rainy days " are sweet to boys who love study ; 
many such happy days have I spent in my attic 
studying mathematics, for which science I then had 
an ardent love, and to this day the sound of falling 
rain upon a roof is very pleasant to me. After I 
was fifteen years old, I went to an academy for three 
years, one term each year, till I was eighteen, and 
thus ended my schooling ; but I taught six country 
schools before I was twenty-one years old, learning 
much more by teaching than I could by attending 
school. The principal of the academy in my native 
town assured me at sixteen, that I was better versed 
in mathematics than those persons usually are who 
graduate at colleges. About this time I spent many 
months in surveying land and running lines in the 
woods of Maine and New Hampshire. I was a skilful 
fisherman, and trout and pickerel were always 



12 INCIDENTS IN MY LIFE. 

abundant at my father's house. I was also called a 
good shot, and abundance of game satisfied my 
father that hunting was profitable, as well as fishing ; 
and I have delighted him by shooting my bird on 
the wing, and my fox on the run, and I once tamed 
a young fox so that he manifested as much affection 
for me as a dog usually does for his master. I 
have had fish so tamed or magnetized, that they 
would feed from my hand. The story of my pets 
would make a volume. I have been surprised to 
see my pet animals obey my thoughts without my 
uttering a word or making a motion, as it proved 
to me how mind governs matter. 

Early in March, 1848 (the year modern spirit- 
ualism was born), I left my native town, and lo- 
cated in Lowell, Mass., where I worked for a 
manufacturing company about six months, after 
which I made arrangements with certain publishers 
to introduce school books into Maine and New 
Hampshire, and established my home in Manchester, 
in the latter state ; I was married in New Hamp- 
shire, and my oldest son (John) was born in that 
city. I afterwards moved to Lowell, Mass. , in which 
city my other two sons, Nathan and James, were 
born; and I opened a bookstore in Boston, at 150 
Washington Street, but afterwards moved to 20 
Washington Street, and manufactured and dealt in 
books. 

Not the best men become the greatest. Not the 
wisest men become the most exalted in this world. 
Many a wicked Dives is clothed in purple and fine 



t MY BUSINESS OPEBATIONS. 13 

linen, and fares sumptuously every day, while Lazarus 
is covered with sores, and eats the crumbs that fall 
from the rich man's table; but, blessed be God, 
death is a leveller, and the same things that the rich 
man shrinks from, comfort the afflicted poor man. 
Robert Burns writes, — 

11 Death ! the poor man's dearest friend, — 

The kindest and the best ! 
Welcome the hour my aged limbs 

Are laid with thee at rest ! 
The great, the wealthy, fear thy blow, 

From pomp and pleasure torn ! 
But, 0, a blest relief to those 

That weary laden mourn ! " 

As with men, so with books. Frothy, frivolous, 
immoral books sell, while the purest and best litera- 
ture often goes begging. Sometimes good books 
prove failures for want of proper titles. A certain 
man in Boston once published two books that 
proved failures. One was christened "Forest and 
Shore." The other was written by an educated 
gentleman, who was then a Boston editor ; and 
was christened "Dovecote." I bought these books, 
and plates, and copyrights for only their worth for 
old junk. I stripped off their covers and printed 
new title pages, and bound them over ; and one I 
named "Sweet Home, or Life in the Country, by 
the Editor of a Boston Daily Paper ; " the other 
was named "The Wrecker's Daughter, and other 
Tales of the Forest, the Shore, and the Ocean ; " 
and I sold both editions like hot cakes, and continued 
to print uncounted thousands of them* 



14 INCIDENTS IN MY LIFE. 

In many places books are not sold as cheap as 
they ought to sell, on account of high taxation. 
There are no taxes on books in Philadelphia, and 
in some other parts of the United States, nor in 
London, or any part of Great Britain ; and it is a 
ridiculous anomaly to impose heavy taxes to support 
free schools, and to exempt all churches, academies, 
and school-houses from taxation, and then turn 
around and tax Bibles, school-books, &c, just like 
any other property. 

In 1855 a method of selling books sprang up 
called "gift enterprises." A regular lottery was 
carried on ; but instead of selling tickets, a book 
costing at wholesale from ten to fifty cents, would 
be sold for one dollar and twenty-five cents, and a 
gift would be presented with the book. Books, 
that had been accumulating for many years, were 
rapidly sold ; but, like most other lotteries, the big 
prizes were not drawn, and friendly rascals were 
hired to say they had drawn this, that, and the 
other watch, piano, or diamond ring, as the case 
might be, and for several years few books could 
be sold in any other way through the United 
States. I never bet in any way, and never patron- 
ize any scheme by chance, cards, dice, lot, or 
other gambling device whatever, and I fully believe 
no person can do it without breaking one of God's 
Ten Commandments — w Thou shalt not covet thy 
neighbor's " [goods] . But what was I to do ? I lay 
awake one entire night, and planned a plan to give by 
caprice a present with every book I sold, and the 



MY BUSINESS OPERATIONS. 15 

thing; worked like a charm. I cleared fifteen hun- 
dred dollars in Boston the first month I sold in that 
way. I cleared twelve hundred dollars in Portland 
in a single month ; twelve hundred dollars in New 
Bedford in a month ; one thousand dollars in Balti- 
more in a month ; eight hundred dollars in Bidde- 
ford in a month, and I cannot afford space to 
enumerate the places where I cleared five hundred 
dollars per month, for I kept several stores in opera- 
tion for about six years, changing from city to city 
every few months. 

But to do business in that way, I am satisfied, is 
wrong. I hope I would not repeat it if I had the 
opportunity to-day, for the Bible not only forbids 
telling lies, but loving and making them. A person 
may make a lie without telling one. They may 
wrong their neighbor by acting a lie as well as by 
telling one. The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness 
thereof. All business should be done without dis- 
sembling or deceiving in any way whatever. I 
always gave a tenth of my gains to objects of 
charity, but seldom anything to professional beggars. 
When I was thirty-seven years old, I made up my 
mind I had property enough for any one man, and I 
closed up my business in Boston, built me a country 
residence in my native state, withdrew from those 
lodges and societies in Boston of which I had been 
a happy member, and resolved that the rest of my 
days should be spent in trying to secure an entrance 
into that Celestial Lodge above, where the Supreme 
Architect of the Universe presides. 



16 INCIDENTS IN MY LIFE. 



CHAPTER III. 
MY JOYS AND MY SORROWS. 

" Yea, hope and despondency, pleasure and pain, 
Are mingled together like sunshine and rain ; 
And the smile and the tear, and the song and the dirge, 
Still follow each other, like surge upon surge." 

" But 'tis the hope, the blissful hope, 
Which Jesus' grace hath given ; 
The hope when days and years are past, 
We all shall meet in heaven." 

All my happiness is based upon " Faith in Christ." 
That Faith is the pearl of great price. It heightens 
every joy one hundred fold, and soothes every sorrow, 
and alleviates all suffering. 

f? He bowed the heavens also and came down," 
and "behold the tabernacle of God is with men." 
Jesus is the only begotten of the Father. He is the 
Door — the Eight Hand or the Temple of God. 
He is "«God manifest in the flesh." Believing all 
his promises makes me happy. He promises his 
followers one hundred fold reward in this present 
life in houses and lands, besides, in the world to 
come, w life everlasting ; " not that we shall have one 
hundred fold more of this world's goods for doing 



MY JOYS AND MY SORROWS. 17 

right, but that we shall enjoy them one hundred 
fold better. The Christian loves his wife and 
children and other friends all the more for having 
faith in Christ's promises. He enjoys his food and 
raiment and all other earthly blessings all the more 
for thinking of the Giver while enjoying the gift — 
for adoring the Creator while loving the creature. 
If w r e lose a child, and have faith that we w r ill soon 
meet that child in heaven, we mourn not as one with- 
out hope. 

The Psalmist praises God for turning his mourn- 
ing into dancing. We are told to praise God in the 
dance, in the last two Psalms, and Jesus tells us in 
the parable when the prodigal son returned to his 
father's house, there was music and dancing. Yet I 
never danced, for I never had time to learn, but I 
sing and laugh, and am happy ; and I try to make 
my family and friends comfortable and happy also. 
Jesus says His " yoke is easy * and His M burden is 
light." Yet " faith without works is dead ; " merely 
Devils' faith, for they believe and tremble. "The 
pure in heart " w shall see God," and faith in Christ 
will help any one to live a pure life and keep the 
Ten Commandments. Scientific men say a gen- 
eration of human beings go to the eternal world once 
in thirty years ; but that is no reason why we should 
go about mourning in sackcloth and ashes all those 
thirty years. I am now living my forty-ninth year, 
and have more friends and relations in the eternal 
world than in this ; yet I am in no hurry to die. I 
hope I am consecrated to God, and willing to live or 
2 



18 INCIDENTS IN MY LIFE. 

die, but I have seen the time when I longed for 
death. I can understand how Paul felt when he 
said to live was Christ, but to die was gain. He 
preferred to die and be with the Lord, yet he was 
willing to live and perform uses. 

When I was a youth, teaching school in the town 
of Lovell, Maine, I first saw my wife, Maria F. 
Dresser, daughter of Nathan Dresser and his wife, 
whose maiden name was Dorcas Heald. At sight 
I resolved she should be my wife, but it took me 
several years to persuade her to marry me, which 
she did October 23, 1850. "We have accumulated 
our property together, and raised up three sons, but 
the fourth is not, for God took him. 
i The first Monday in October, 1872, my wife had 
a terrible shock of palsy, paralyzing her entire right 
side, and rendering her senseless for many days ; but 
after many months of careful watching, she got able 
to go about with crutches. I felt willing to divide 
my life with her, but faith in Christ kept me from 
despair. Faith in Christ and in all His Promises 
comforted us both in our affliction, and He has 
turned our sorrow into joy ; and I hope the dear 
Lord may spare her to me as long as He has work 
for me on earth, and that He may then take us 
together ; yet, as He knows best and doeth all things 
well, we happily submit to His Will. The follow- 
ing lines were written by me on the partial recovery 
of my wife, and a part of the verses were published 
in f? Gleanings from the Poets," under the title of— 



MY JOYS AND MY SORROWS. 19 



Metempsychosis . 

The prettiest girl in all the town 
I courted once and " beau'd around * — 
"The prettiest girl," did each one say, 
"That I have seen for many a day." 

How swiftly by the time has flown 
Since this fair girl became mine own ; 
Since she gave me her hand for life ! 
How proudly then I called her wife ! 

She walks to-day with crutch and cane, 
And even so she walks with pain. 
But in my mind she's young and gay 
And fair as on our marriage-day. 

When Jesus lived with man on earth, 
He healed the soul and body both ; 
Where Jesus dwells, there is no pain ; 
There wife and I'll be young again ! 

A child of nature wondered why 
An aged Christian longed to die ; 
But Christian answered, as he smiled, 
"These are my reasons, Nature's child : 

" Dear Christ, the carpenter, I know, 
Worked at His trade on earth below ; 
He tells us now, with perfect love, 
He's working at His trade above. 



20 INCIDENTS IN MY LIFE. 

K And when I pray, I seem to see 
The home my Lord has made for me ! 
Then why not leave this world of woe, 
And to that Heavenly Mansion go ? " 

Deformed and wrinkled, I grow old, 
And, filled with pain and chilled with cold, 
My body burdens me to earth ; 
I'm waiting for my spirit birth. 

I'm now a worm, but long to try 
The higher life of butterfly. 
These limbs, these eyes, this body — all 
Soon into dust will surely fall. 

And when it turns to dirt and dust, 
This poor, old, worthless, worn-out crust 
Will ne'er again be used by me : 
This doctrine in God's Word I see. 

When fruits and grains are ripened, all 
To mother earth are doomed to fall. 
But from the earth they sprout and grow : 
Such is God's law, man well doth know. 

So when our bodies fall to earth, 
Our spirit-beings have their birth. 
As turn the worms to butterflies, 
So to the better land we rise. 

God is the potter — we the clay ; 
And let us to our Father pray, 



MY JOYS AND MY SORROWS. " 21 

That He who forms the butterfly 
May guide and lead us to the sky. 

Let us live by the Golden Eule ; 
That is the lesson of life's school, — 
For if we treat our neighbor right 
We gain the victory — end the fight. 

The better we live here below, 
Better the joys to which we go, 
But God will do for every one 
The best that for him can be done. 

My head is bald ; but what care I ? 
Dull is my ear, dim is mine eye. 
Soon wife and I will pass away, 
Happy as 'twere our marriage-day. 

Jesus says (John viii. 51), "Verily, verily, I say 
unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never 
see death." And Paul says, "Our Lord Jesus 
Christ hath abolished death." He died to w deliver 
them who through fear of death were all their life- 
time subject to bondage." 

The hymns of all Christian countries abound with 
these truths. In an Episcopal church in England 
I opened to these lines : — 

"When from flesh the spirit free 
Hastens homeward to return, 
Mortals cry, * A man is dead ! ' 
Angels sing, * A child is born ! ' " 



22 INCIDENTS IN MY LIFE. 

This same sentiment is found in most hymn-books 
in our country, as in this verse : — 

"Then in a nobler, sweeter strain, 
I'll sing Thy power to save, 
When this poor, lisping, stammering tongue 
Lies mouldering in the grave." 

I wrote the following lines for the occasion 
of the golden wedding of my parents, and the 
marriage of my eldest son, at Fryeburg, Maine, 
October 2, 1873 : — 

True Marriage for Eternity. 

Does marriage last beyond the grave ? 
Thy answer, Lord, I humbly crave ; 
Thou art the Way, the Truth, and Life, — 
Say, must I ever lose my wife? 

No ! all who live in love below, 
Love on, in heaven. It must be so. 
The God of Love hath plainly said, 
Whom He unites are always wed. 

But no foul lust unites a pair, 
Or selfish love of money, there: 
In Thy blest realms of heaven above, 
Nothing unites pure souls but love, 

O blessed Jesus, now I sec 
Thy words against polygamy 5 



MY JOYS AND MY SORROWS. 23 

All selfish lust and greed of gain 

Is what Thy Word condemns so plain ! 

But if two souls unite in love 
On earth, they will unite above. 
Thank God, earth's selfish marriage-chains 
Will not bind souls on Heavenly Plains. 

Render to Caesar all that's due ; 
To every pledge, on earth, be true ; 
But when pure souls to heaven may go, 
Each Juliet meets her Eomeo. 

I have written many poems in my life, but perhaps 
they have attracted more attention for truth than 
for poetry. When my oldest son was born, in 
Manchester, N. H., I had a pet gray squirrel, named 
Jack. He would lie in my bosom, and manifest 
affection for me in many ways ; but I loved my boy 
and neglected my squirrel, and he drooped and died, 
heart-broken, perhaps. As my squirrel died in 
midwinter, and the snow was deep, I entombed 
him with much pains through a breathing-hole in 
the Merrimack River. It was the work of only a 
few moments to write the following lines, which I 
insert here, to show my theological views at that 
time : — 

Good by, my Jack ; once my sprightly Jack ; 
Now roll the waters of the Merrimack, 
Unheeded by thee, o'er thy head ! 
i Once my sprightly Jack, now thou art dead ! 



24 INCIDENTS IN MY LIFE. 

But, Jack, I'd rather choose thy place, 
Than the fate of many of my race 
Who are doomed eternity to spend, 
Months, years, and ages without end, 
Thinking of actions of this life ; 
Thinking of sorrow and of strife 
Which they have caused in this world below, 
Creators they of their every woe. 

Christians are often sorely tried by pretended 
friends, and worthless relations, and false brethren, 
who want to borrow money, or get indorsements for 
ruinous schemes of folly ; but they should always 
reply, that Scripture forbids casting pearls before 
swine, or giving our children's bread to dogs, 
and point to Matthew xii. 46-50, and xviii. 15-20 ; 
for there Jesus gives us plain rules to govern our 
actions towards our friends and enemies. Christians 
are God's agents to help the widow and the father- 
less through this " short vale of sorrow." 

" Tis the wink of our eye, 'tis the draught of a breath, 
From the blossom of health to the paleness of death, 
Prom the gilded saloon to the bier and the shroud ; 
0, why should the spirit of mortal be proud? " 

Where are the scholars that went with me to the 
first school I ever attended ? — and the school-master, 
where is he? Directly opposite the school-house 
lived David Hardy, and he sent four scholars, David, 
Jr., James, Stephen, and Emily ; but w uncle David, 
and aunt Judy," and the four scholars have been 



MY JOYS AND MY SORROWS. 25 

dead for more than twenty years. Next below 
the school-house lived Jonathan Shirley. His son 
Mason was our school-master. He was born with 
only one hand, and was employed for several winters, 
partly out of sympathy. He was a good fellow, 
full of fun, and very fond of snapping boys' ears. 
He was not only school-master, but Methodist minis- 
ter, and a Thomsonian doctor, and he sometimes 
threatened bad boys w T ith a lobelia emetic. His 
youngest brother, Jonathan, and two sisters, were 
scholars ; but w uncle Jonathan and aunt Hitty," and 
the school-master, and three scholars, have all been 
dead for thirty years. The next house was my fa- 
ther's. Old age took him to the better world only last 
year. Next lived Henry Dearborn Hutchins, and he 
sent three scholars, Freeman, Thomas, and Mehita- 
ble. Thomas only is living; but Freeman, — dear 
Freeman, — who used to carry me in his arms over the 
big drifts, filled a stranger's grave some forty years 
ago ; but I have not space to give a full necrology 
of our school. 

How short is our stay in this material world, and 
what folly to try to rap up ghosts, even if it were 
possible ! But it is not possible. God has so ordered 
it, or man would lose his individuality and his free- 
dom, and the human race would end. Spiritualists 
ask a fish and get a serpent, they ask an egg and get 
a scorpion ; they seek to communicate with spirit 
friends, but are deluded by devils and robbed by 
mediums. They spend money for that which is not 
bread, and labor for~that which satisfieth not. 



26 INCIDENTS IN MY LIFE. 



CHAPTER IV. 

WHAT I KNOW ABOUT MODERN SPIRIT- 
UALISM:. 

Glendower. I can call spirits from the vasty deep. 

Hotspur. Why, so can I, or so can any man ; 
But will they come when you do call for them? 

Glend. Why, I can teach you, cousin, to command the Devil. 

Hot. And I can teach thee, coz, to shame the devil 
By telling truth. " Tell truth, and shame the devil." 

Shakspeare, Henry IV., Act 3, Scene 1. 

What is a devil but a wicked person in this or 
any other world? Jesus said, "Have not I chosen 
you twelve, and one of you is a devil? " All trees 
are known by their fruit, and the fruit of " Modern 
Spiritualism " is the worst that ever grew on earth. 
I took my first lessons of La Roy Sunderland in 
1849, in Lowell, Mass., and my second lessons of 
J. S. Loveland, in Manchester, N. H. They were 
both apostate Methodist preachers, and I became an 
apostate Methodist also. But April 23, 1865, the 
K God of the Hebrews " met me, and I received a 
blessing, a Pearl of Great Price, the greatest gift 
of God to man, which was nothing less than " Faith 
in Christ," and I went humbly back to the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, and was licensed by that church 
to preach both in Maine and in Virginia ; but for four 



WHAT I KNOW ABOUT MODERN SPIRITUALISM. 27 

years longer I continued to investigate " Spiritual- 
ism," and in 1869, by reading the Bible and the 
writings of Emanuel Swedenborg, and my own 
experience, I became fully satisfied that it is just as 
sinful to consult a witch, or a medium, or person 
having a familiar spirit, as it is to commit adultery, 
or to break any other of God's Ten Commandments. 

I am in no sense a sectarian. The Methodist and 
Congregational churches are continually growing- 
nearer each other. There are about ten millions of 
the latter church who speak the English language, and 
to-day they believe in as much " free-will " as ever 
John Wesley preached ; while the Methodists are 
introducing lay delegation into their bodies, and in one 
large city I have seen a church with the inscription on 
its front — M Congregational Methodist Church" 

The world is growing less and less sectarian every 
year, and more and more Christian. John said, 
" He [Jesus] must increase, but I must decrease." 
The Baptists have always had congregational church 
government. The late Professor George Bush wrote 
a book which illuminates this subject perfectly. 
It is entitled "The Origin of Priesthood and Clergy, 
or Ecclesiastical Rulers unknown to Primitive Chris- 
tianity, with Scriptural Arguments in Favor of Con- 
gregational Church Government, and Proofs that the 
Churches of the First Century were Communities of 
co-equal Brethren." 

Paul says (Acts xvi. 31), "Believe on the Lord 
Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy 
house." Whatever church or clergyman will adhere 



28 INCIDENTS IN MY LIFE. 

to Paul's creed, can have me as a co-worker. Beli - 
on Jesus and follow Him, which embraces keeping 
the Ten Commandments, is all the creed which should 
be required of every person. Whoever believes on 
the Lord Jesus Christ must accept Moses and + he 
Prophets, and the Psalms, for Jesus indorsed those 
books, both before and after His Resurrection. 
w Search the Scriptures." w They are they which 
testify of Me," says the great Master. The name 
of Jesus pronounced by a true Christian will break 
up any circle of Spiritualists, silence their familiar 
spirits, banish their devils, and render their mediums 
powerless. That there are many honest, virtuous 
people among the rank and file of the Spiritualists, 
I do not deny ; but they are deluded by mediums, 
and their familiar spirits, who conspire to rob and 
destroy their victims. 

"Mediums " were called, in olden times, sorcerers, 
necromancers, prognosticators, soothsayers, astrolo- 
gers, wizards, witches, and persons having familiar 
spirits, and they are all condemned by the Bible 
from beginning to end. We read in Ex. xxii. 
18, "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live,'' and in 
Deut. xviii. 10-12, " There shall not be found 
among you any one that maketh his son or his 
daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth 
divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, 
or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar 
spirits, or a w T izard, or a necromancer. For all that 
do these things are an abomination unto the Lord." 

Paul addressed Ely mas, the sorcerer, as follows : 



WHAT I KNOW ABOUT MODERN SPIRITUALISM. 29" 

" ° T full of all subtlety, and all mischief, thou child 
of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness." 

iWe are continually assured by Scripture that 
mediums can never enter heaven. The last chapter 
of; -the Bible says, at verse 14, "for without are 
dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers." Medium- 
ship and free love always went hand in hand, and 
virtuous mediums were always as rare as white crows. 
(See Isaiah lvii. 3.) Spoiling mediums and their 
business was a part of the work of Jesus and His 
apostles. (See Acts xvi. 16, &c.) Our Lord cast 
seven devils out of a woman, and legion out of a 
man, thus ruining a medium much more powerful 
than the Davenports or the Eddys, for this medium 
they could not bind even " with chains." Well may 
I use the language of my Master in Matthew xxiii. 
33, "Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can 
ye escape the damnation of hell ? " 

I have spent years of time and thousands of dollars 
investigating this great delusion. I have never seen 
a person benefited, but have known uncounted mul- 
titudes ruined, families separated, fine intellects de- 
mented, fortunes wasted, and free love, or prostitu- 
tion, almost universally adopted by those persons 
calling themselves " Modern Spiritualists." I have 
prepared two lectures upon the subject. 

I. Modern Spiritualism Weighed in a 
Balance for Twenty Years, and Found 
Wanting.* 

II. Spiritualism in England, and English 
Spiritualists, including what I Saw in My 



30 incidents in my life. 

Trip through England, Ireland, and Scot- 
land in the Summer of 1874. 

These lectures I deliver before churches, lyceuins, 
or any societies established for benevolent purposes, 
on the most favorable terms. And whenever desired, 
I debate the following subject with Spiritualists : — 

Resolved, That Modern Spiritualism is a 
delusion identical with Bible witchcraft, and that 
it is the work of devils. 

I have discussed the above resolution in various 
cities, and in all cases my replies to the attacks 
upon the Bible have silenced the enemy, and they 
have always retired, apparently " convinced against 
their will," for they all hate the Bible, the Lord, and 
the Christian Religion. 

I have had seances with multitudes of different 
mediums, and I once had for a partner the notorious 
Charles H. Foster, called the greatest test medium 
in the world, but I never saw any person benefited 
by him or any other medium. Foster has the power 
to some extent to read minds, but he is a low juggler 
and humbug. The New York Chemical Review 
says, that one third of all the inmates of the Insane 
Asylums throughout the United States are victims 
of spiritual mediums. 

Why do Modern Spiritualists hate the Bible, the 
Lord, and the Christian Religion? Why do they 
claim that Heathen are better than Christians, that 
Paganism is better than Christianity, ancl that the 
old Canaanites were better than the Jews? It is 
because they love darkness rather than light, for 



WHAT I KNOW ABOUT MODERN SPIRITUALISM. 31 

their deeds are evil. Spiritualists claim that K there 
is no evil," but that w all evil is undeveloped good ; " 
but if they commit such crimes as are forbidden in 
Leviticus xviii. 22 to 30, and are referred to in 
Romans i. 26 and 27, why not treat them as com- 
manded in Exodus xxii. 18 ? Can Modern Spiritu- 
alists explain what " undeveloped good " there is in 
the crimes of the old Canaanites, or the Pagan 
Romans, or the equally filthy "free love Spiritualists " 
of the present day? Such wretches are called, in 
Scripture, dogs, swine, serpents, and vipers, and 
they can never enter heaven any more than fishes 
can swim in the air, or owls and bats can enjoy a 
sunrise. That the merciful and loving God will 
make their future condition as comfortable as their 
natures will permit, I have no doubt : but that state 
of society which would be to them a heaven, decent 
people would call hell. Many believe in the annihila- 
tion of such souls, and if that were scriptural, it 
would be reasonable ; but Swedenborg says, in his 
book called Heaven and Hell, an eternal state of 
servitude, where they will perform uses, is their 
doom. Could God make doves out of snakes, or 
lambs out of wolves? That He could, I have no 
doubt ; but it is not His way of making lambs and 
doves. No more will He ever manufacture angels 
out of devils or familiar spirits. 

I have written and prepared three books, defending 
the Bible against the misrepresentations of Modern 
Spiritualists. 

1 . A twenty-cent book upon the Resurrection", 



32 INCIDENTS IN MY LIFE. 

proving the Bible doctrine of the resurrection per- 
fectly in accordance with Science and Reason. 

2. A twenty-cent book entitled The Roads to 
Heayen and Hell, showing why people love to 
go to hell, &c. A part of this book is devoted to 
exposing Swedenborgianism, or turning it inside out, 
because "Modern Spiritualists" claim to be like 
Swedenborg, which is absolutely false ; for he says 
the spirits of good people after death go to heaven, 
but wicked people remain about the earth ; and to 
consult w Spirit Mediums " is forbidden by the Word 
of God, and is dangerous and liable to destroy both 
soul and body. Jesus says, "The kingdom of 
heaven is v/ithin you." Heaven and hell do not 
depend so much upon place as upon the state or 
condition of the mind or soul. 

3. A seventy-five cent book entitled A Plain 
and Truthful History of the Bible, its 
Nature and Teachings, for the Common 
People. 

This book proves the Bible to be reasonable and 
truthful, and that no contradictions can be found in 
it, and that it is just as sinful to consult mediums as 
to commit adultery, or to break any other of God's 
Ten Commandments. 

These three books, all bound in one volume, are 
furnished for one dollar. 

ALBERT COLBY, 

30 Willow Street, 

Lowell, Mass. 



THE ORIGIN 



OF 



Priesthood and Clergy 



OK, 



ECCLESIASTICAL RULERS UNKNOWN TO 
PEIIITIVE CHRISTIANITY, 

■WITH 

SCRIPTURAL ARGUMENTS IN FAVOR OF 
CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH GOVERN- 
MENT, AND PROOFS THAT THE 
CHURCHES OF THE FIRST CEN- 
TURY WERE COMMUNITIES 
OF CO-EQUAL BRETHREN. 



BY REV. GEORGE BUSH. 



PORTLAND, ME.: 
ALBERT COLBY'S S03STS, 

119 Exchange Steeet. 



ADVERTISEMENT. 



JUST PUBLISHED, 

A Plain and Truthful History of the Bible, its Na- 
ture and Teachings. For the common people. By Albert 
Colby, of Lowell, Mass. 

Jesus said, " I am the way, the truth, and the life." (John xiv. 6.) 
"And the common people heard him gladly." (Mark xii. 37.) 

Price, cloth, gilt, 75 cents ; paper, 50 cents ; full gilt sides and 
edges, $1.00. 

This work is divided into three chapters. The first chapter 

gives a history of the Sacred Scriptures and their various 

translations into the English language, &c. The second shows 

that the Word of God always accords with Natural Science 

and Beason, and never contradicts any absolute truth. The 

third chapter shows that God's Word never contradicts itself. 

While admitting there are sometimes apparent contradictions, 

this book shows conclusively that there are no real ones, but 

only a few paradoxes that can be easily explained. The middle 

chapter, being complete in itself, is furnished separately when 

desired. Words, printed, written, or spoken, are forms of 

thought, and the " Word of God " is as much above any human 

book as God's Thoughts are above man's thoughts. Every 

Word of the Lord has many meanings, and some one of these 

meanings may be seen by any honest person ; yet they will be 

the study of angels to all eternity, and God only will fully 

understand all about them. The author has borrowed at least 

one-half his work from other books, written by theologians of 

different denominations in this country and England. Let us 

forget the sectarian bigotry and intolerance of past ages, and 

remember, if we can only touch the garments of Jesus, we 

shall be made perfectly whole of whatever disease we may 

have. 

ALBERT COLBY & SONS, 

119 Exchange Street, 

Portland, Maine. 

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1S74, by Albert Colby, 
in the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 



PREFACE. 



I have been about ten years in collecting and arranging the 
facts here presented. They have been used in debates with 
those infidels and atheists who have attacked the Bible with 
pretended " communications from the spirit world." These 
wicked people claim to prove that the Bible sanctions polygamy, 
intemperance, and other evils which are utterly condemned by 
the "Word of God." They pretend to show that the Bible 
teaches a doctrine of three Gods, while such language cannot be 
found in the Bible, or in any creed of Christendom from the 
Roman Catholic to the Universalist. John Murray, the founder 
of Universalism in America, taught that Jesus was the only 
visible God of heaven and earth ; and the invisible God filling 
immensity, formed, with Jesus, "one God only," like the soul 
and body of a man. (See pages 17-37 and 117.) John the 
Baptist said, " He [Jesus] must increase, but I must decrease; " 
and the more any one becomes a true Christian, the less they 
will be found a sectarian. The two great armies of Christ and 
anti- Christ are now at war. The great giant of anti- Christ is 
now marching up and down through the earth, defying the 
armies of the living God. " Modern Spiritualism" is this giant. 
Let him be stoned to death. Stones mean truths, and the Bible 
is full of truths, and in the name of Jesus let all Christians 
unite, and the bear of infidelity, the lion of paganism, and the 
giant of "Modern Spiritualism," shall fall together to the dust 
to rise no more forever. 

ALBERT COLBY. 

Lowell, Mass., May, 1874. 

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1874, by Albert 
Colby, in the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 



JUST PUBLISHED— A NEW EDITION 

OF THE 

LIFE OF OUE LOUD AND SAVIOUE 
JESUS CHRIST. 

BY THAT EMINENT SCHOLAR AND PLEASING- WRITER, 

EEV. EUFUS W. CLAEK, B. D. f 

OF ALBANY, N. Y. 

To which is added The Lives of all the Writers of the New Testa- 
ment, from the writings of Adam Clarke ; also, The Religious 
Creed and History of the Jews, from the earliest Period down to 
the present Day; and a true History of the Bible, its Nature 
and Teachings. 

This is no sectarian work, but the Bible history and common 
sense are proved to be in perfect harmony. 

The Life of Christ tells you how our Saviour can teach senators wis- 
dom. How kings reign by his aid, and princes decree justice by his 
teachings. How the wisest man that ever lived grows wiser, if "Christ 
teaches him ; and the greatest man becomes greater by sitting at his 
feet. The poet sings more sweetly, if the spirit of Jesus touches his 
harp ; while the orator rises to a loftier place, if he borrows his fire 
from the alter of God. 

The Life of Christ tells you how the palace of the king is more beauti- 
ful for having Christ in it, and the halls of legislation more honored 
where our Saviour presides. How he walks among the stately build- 
ings of the great city, and makes the air purer and the inmates holier. 
How he goes to the cottage, and sows beside the door a plant called 
Contentment, which grows and covers the poor man's home, and 
makes all within happy. 

The Life of Christ tells you how he comes to the bed of sickness, 
and leaves an Angel there, whose name is submission, and the feeble 
one weeps no more. How he comes to the little child and becomes 
his companion, and with holy teachings fits him for the kingdom of 
heaven. How he comes into his earthly garden and there gathers those 
lilies which lie places in his garden above, where, tended by his gentle 
hand, they bloom in never-ending sunshine through all eternity. 

Published by Albert Colby, in large 12mo size, of nearly 500 
pages. Printed upon nice white paper, and bound with beautiful red 
cloth gilt covers. Retail price, $2.00 per copy. Agents wanted for 
every county and town in the United States and Canada, to whom the 
most liberal commissions will be allowed. 
gggT* Address all letters to 

ALBERT COLBY, Tortland Me. 



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